Happy Holidays my fellow fictioneers and readers! Today’s little ditty may have been inspired by, um, well, a book I’ve been reading A LOT over this last month. But I’ll fill you in on that later. First, the story:
Image copy righted by Scott Vannatter
‒ Dinner for Two ‒
The tree was trimmed, the table set.
He had better like surprises.
She glanced anxiously at the dinner plate.
He must love sushi.
She fidgeted, tired of waiting.
He must like cats. Of course he does. He’s definitely an animal lover.
A ruckus announced his arrival. He dropped his bag and looked down at the table set for two. “Well now, this is a nice surprise. I’m not used to getting more than milk and cookies.” Big Red looked down into her big, unblinking eyes. “But you know, Puss, I think the Misses is going to miss her gold fish.”
(100 words)
~oOo~
Today’s picture prompt was provided by Scott Vannatter. Thank you, Scott. Our group is kept in line by the beautiful and most talented, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Pop in to visit her if you’d like to join the challenge – or just cause. I’ll admit to being a bad little blogger and visitor these past couple of weeks. Illness and holiday demands have taken their toll, so visit and comment at your own risk. 😉
Click on the fun frog link to visit more participates.
Alright, you twisted my arm. The story behind the inspiration…it’s only a slight influence really. I have been reading Christmas for a Kitten with my daughter for the past three weeks or more. She keeps checking the same book out of the school library every week. She’s only slightly cat crazy. You wouldn’t know it by her four page wish list of stuffed cats on Amazon. Will she grow up to be a crazy cat lady like my aunt Bobby? Maybe.
Here’s a little interesting tidbit about my family. Quirky and fun, you got to love them. My aunt Bobby had a lot of cats. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Her and her wife of many years cared for around 100 cats, about seven dogs and a blind donkey. Yes, blind. They did everything for these animals. They cooked their food – COOKED – gave them all their shots avoiding expensive trips to the vet, and did anything else necessary. They didn’t all live inside, of course. A select few (ten) got house privileges while the rest of the cats lived in a custom-built enclosure on the property. Could you imagine living that way? I don’t know, maybe you do, live that way I mean. Anyway, one holiday I received a card from her, it was also signed by the ten cats that lived in the house, the seven dogs and the donkey. That card was a gem! Allergic to cats? That was one place you’d definitely want to avoid.
The holiday is practically upon us. Are you ready? I don’t have a single present wrapped nor have I put any ornaments on my tree yet. Sniffle. Sniffle. Today marks the last day of school and so begins the holiday break. The entire family will be home, so I’ll be blogging infrequently, if at all for the next two weeks. If you follow the Thor tour, we hope to see a post or two from him during the next two weeks so you can look forward to that. If you missed his latest, check out what kind of trouble he got into up in Washington with Leslie Berry and follow his travels on the Thor World Tour page.
As always, thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your comments.
Debra Kristi's Blog 
Merry Christmas, Debra. Christmas for a Kitten book looks gorgeous.
Isn’t it a pretty book? I suspect I’ll end up buying her a copy before this is all over. Poor little kitten is homeless and finds her way into a house on Christmas eve. You can only imagine what she thinks of all the decorations. Santa ends up naming her Christmas Cookie. Bet you can’t guess why. LOL.
Dear Debra,
I have one wrapped present under my tree, but that’s only because it’s from a friend who brought it over night before last. I’m woefully behind on my shopping.
I think there’s a word missing in your story after “raucous”. Love it that she’s having sushi with Santa. Reminds me of the old song “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”
Have a great holiday. I’m saying farewell to two of my kids today and waiting for the rest to arrive Saturday and Monday.
Shalom and happy Christmas,
Rochelle
You’re right, Rochelle. Thank you. But now I must change the word entirely to keep within the 100 words. 😉 Ha ha! “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” didn’t even enter my mind. How funny. Sounds like our situations are similar. I have a gift from a friend under the tree as well. If it weren’t for that it would be a naked tree, as my kid likes to say. Well, that one little gift got my youngest all excited and she started wrapping up her books in pictures she colored. So there is that. LOL. Everybody’s getting used picture books for Christmas! Yay! Sounds busy over there with the revolving door of coming and going kids. Enjoy their company while they’re there. Shalom and Merry Christmas.
That was an unusual take on this week’s prompt Debra. I didn’t have cats down as being so eager to please, and offering up the goldfish to your dinner guest… well there’s altruism personifield. Nice one.
No. My current cat would run and hide for the Big Guy’s entire visit. The cat in this prompt is modeled after my previous cat of 19 to 20 years. She was a real lover. In this piece she wants something from Santa, hence the gift. After watching him come and go for a decade she’s sort of on to his game. She knows he’s leaving presents and granting wishes. Or so she believes. Thanks for taking stopping by, Sandra.
Cute story! Hope you feel better and have a great Christmas. I don’t have anything wrapped either – busy weekend coming up!
Thanks. You made me smile. Busy weekend and late nights. At least here. We can’t wrap anything until after the kids are asleep. I’m starting to feeling better and I need to remind myself not to over do it or I’ll make myself sick again. I’ll be thinking of you when we start wrapping. Thanks for stopping by, Jennette.
Merry Christmas Debra!! I hope you and your family have a happy, peaceful holiday. All the best!!
Thank you, Coleen. May your holiday be truly magical and the time you spend with your family be immensely memorable.
Fab fiction as always, Debra! Wishing you and yours a wonderful wrap up to 2012 and kick off to 2013. I have a feeling it holds magic for all of us… 🙂
I like those words of yours. They sound pretty good to me. Lets hope you’re right and 2013 brings magic our way. Wishing a magical holiday filled with good friends and loved ones. Thank you for your wonderful comment. Hugs.
Great story, Debra! And enjoy the reading with your girl. They grow up so fast. HUGS!
They really do grow up fast, don’t they? I remember when my boy was just a tiny thing and now he’s turning into a little man. Thank you, Christine. I will enjoy my mommy daughter time. I’ll trust you in that it all goes far too quickly. Thanks for your comment and for stopping by. 😀
Good story. The one for the photo prompt and the back story too.
I’m glad you liked both. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Good one, Debra! I like the back and forth between the character and cat. I enjoyed this. And dinner with Santa. Oh, so lucky.
Thanks! Something tells me Santa won’t be staying long. He’s on a pretty tight schedule. 😉 But cats are sneaky and do tend to wrap their humans around their little paws, so… You never know. He he.
love this story! what an imagination ^^ sweet cat, poor goldfish ^^
Wow, thanks Kz. I’m really touched by that compliment. I feel bad for the goldfish, too. But sometimes you have to kill your little darlings for the sake of the story. Sigh. 🙂 It makes it better.
Very cute Christmas story!
Merry Christmas to you and your family Debra!
Thank you. I was going for something fun for the holidays. Your place sure did look festive in what few pictures you shared. I hope your holiday is simply amazing (or should I say horrid?). Someone told me you’ll be sharing it with our favorite Norse god this year. Or his mini plastic version anyway. *giggles*
oooh, setting up a date with the “big guy,” eh? you minx. well done! had me guessing until the end.
Oh good. That was my intention – the guess, that is. Who doesn’t want a date with that “big guy?” That would be one magical moment, no doubt.
Cute story…made me smile. I have been reworking my computer’s hard drive for awhile and lost all my email information and can’t get the new one to run. I needed a smile.
Scott
Mine: http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/friday-fictioneers-11/
Ugh. I’m sorry Scott. I know that feeling. I lost all my email files back in October. It wasn’t pretty. I feel your pain. 😦 Can you access any of it through a web mail program? I’m no expert. I usually call my husband (also named Scott) for help with such things, but I was able to retrieve some stuff that way when I had my problem. You probably know way more than me and have already tried such things. Glad I could bring a smile to your face, no matter how fleeting.
Clever story there – and I didn’t see who it was till the end, despite the prompts inside the story, thanks! Now reading after the story..
Why thank you. I do like the sound of that – clever. 😉 I hope you enjoyed reading on as much as I enjoyed having you visit.
I knew it was the cat as soon as I saw ‘sushi’… I know your devious mind…
Great Christmas surprise! 🙂
Cute Christmas story. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Enjoy both stories…the fiction and real. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Very cute story…I enjoyed this! I never thought about it but Santa could be a player.
Tom
This is very cute!
Loved the last line.
Merry Christmas! 🙂
Dear Debra,
Oh, the Horror, the Horror. This story is a nightmare for Golfish everywhere and a happy and cute tale for all the rest of us. Very well done.
Merry Christmas.
Aloha,
Doug
Jeez I’m an airhead. I thought I’d commented on this one but…alas, I had not. Good job again, Debra! And more power to the cats…and to sushi (but only for cats…yuck to raw fish for me!). Hope you had a great Christmas! I’m afraid I might have caught your cold. 😉
Happy New Year to you! I have been offline for too long! What a fun short story.
Your aunt had quite the menagerie! I have a friend who built a cat playhouse on her back patio so her cats can come and go as they please without actually stepping foot outdoors (they are show cats).
You and me both. But I see have a few more days. I thought I’d get a post out this morning but it didn’t happen. Too many things going on around here. You know how it is when everyone’s home and there are a million and one things on the to-do list. That cat play house sounds pretty darn cool. I saw pictures of a house that built platforms inside the house for the cats to climb and up to the ceiling and cross the room on catwalks. They even had little cat doors in the walls at the ceiling level. It was crazy. My daughter wants to do that. Of course she does. LOL. My aunt was just a crazy cat lady who wanted to save the cats. I love her for that. But man! That’s a lot of cat hair. 😀